Princess Diana's Unseen Letters Reveal Her Fear of Being Spied On and Distress Over "Ugly" Divorce

Aside from her infamous BBC Panorama interview with Martin Bashir, Princess Diana rarely spoke about her divorce from King Charles. Most of what is known about how Prince Harry and Prince William's mother felt about her former husband and how she was treated in the aftermath of his affair, and her exit as a Royal are via those who she was close to.

However, during the tumultuous time period, Diana was writing about her feelings in letters to close friends – and those intimate and personal letters are about to go up for auction. 

According to the set of letters, Diana "never would have gone through with her divorce" if she knew how "desperate and ugly" the process would be. This is revealed in a collection of 32 letters she wrote to her close friends, Susie, and Tarek Kassem, which are going up for auction. 

"I am having a very difficult time and pressure is serious and coming from all sides. It's too difficult sometimes to keep one's head up and today I am on my knees and just longing for this divorce to go through as the possible cost is tremendous," she wrote in one of the letters, revealing that she feared her phone at Kensington Palace was "constantly" bugged. 

"As I don't have a mobile it is difficult to discuss personal issues as my lines here are constantly recorded and passed on," she added in May 1996. "If I'd known a year ago what I'd experience going through this divorce I never would have consented. It's desperate and ugly."

Diana, who spent Christmas 1995 with the couple while William and Harry were with their father at Sandringham, expressed her gratitude. "I was so thrilled to be invited into a family occasion particularly as I was made to feel like one of the team," she wrote.

After the Queen advised Charles and Diana to divorce, she expressed more gratitude toward them. "I may have been described as a butterfly but I don't want to fly away from this loving family," she wrote on December 19, 1995, referring to the Kassem family. "I'm immensely touched by how protective you both are of me…  I'm not used to that!"

"Susie met Diana at the Royal Brompton Hospital and it is obvious that they clicked straight away, Diana says as much in one of her letters," explains Mimi Connell-Lay, of Lay's Auctioneers, who will kick off the sale on February 16. "They had a very strong connection and what is clear is how much Diana valued their friendship and support and advice at a time of great emotional turmoil for her."

"Our clients are both aged in their 70s now. They have treasured these letters for over 25 years. They reflect the special and loving relationship they had with the most unique women that they had ever known," she added about the couple, who decided to sell the letters because  "owning the documents is a great responsibility" which they do not wish to pass on to their children or grandchildren.